Date: 1st January 2021
Time: from 10:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, cloudy/misty, light
wind, 0°C to 2°C
So, it is now 2021 …. New Year’s
Day.
Most birders keep an annual list
of UK bird species recorded. I generally record between 225 and 230 species per
year although my highest total is 234 species in both 2017 and 2010.
My total for 2020 was 194 species
which was significantly lower than recent years due to the various travel restrictions
imposed by the Government in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first few days of
2020 started normally for me with some winter birding (as it usually does) in
East Anglia and south west England to kick off my 2020 year list …. see here. However, the initial national lockdown from 23rd March 2020 forced me to cancel all my planned spring and early summer wildlife watching
trips around East Anglia and to Somerset, Wales and the Scottish Highlands and
this had an inevitable impact on my final 2020 year list total.
2021 is not starting
normally by any means given that Government imposed tier 4 “stay at home” restrictions apply
to my area. How long they continue in to the year remains to be seen. I have no
idea whether or not I will be able to undertake my usual spring and early
summer trips.
For birders who keep an annual list of UK bird
species recorded, New Year’s Day is a “big day”.
For me, given that I do have a car
(I rent cars for trips) and there is no public transport on New Year’s Day, I usually kick off my new year list by birding local to home. Therefore today
was no different in that I visited St. Nicholas Church and the surrounding
areas.
It was very cold this morning as
on my last 2 visits but it was also very grey and cloudy and misty. If it had
not been New Year’s Day, I probably would not have bothered going out. As it
was, I didn’t bother taking my camera with me due to the poor light.
As I left home, I immediately
noted my “first of the year” …. a Magpie. However, as I walked along
Basildon Road towards Larkin Tyres, I saw c.10 Redwings in the bushes
and trees that border the road.
I accessed the site as usual via the
track from Larkins Tyres and quickly saw a further c.15 Redwings in the
bushes bordering the scrubland. In the western section of the cemetery, Redwings
were again very active flying to and fro between the trees and berry bushes as
on my last visit and there were at least c.20 birds here too.
Other than that, I did not see anything
of particular note although every species was of course a “first of the year”. However,
the species total of 13 for my visit was much lower than the excellent 23 species recorded on my last visit on 28th December 2020.
With regard to mammals, I think I had an extremely brief sighting of the rear end of a Red Fox in
the western section of the cemetery but I could not be certain.
I saw 5 Grey Squirrels this
morning: 1 along the track from Larkins Tyres, 1 in the wooded clearing at the
end of the track, 1 in the eastern section of the cemetery, 1 in the western
section of the cemetery and 1 in the trees at the bottom of Church Hill near
Laindon Park School.
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Redwing
Blackbird
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Jay
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Woodpigeon
Herring Gull
Site totals to date (2021 totals
in brackets):
Birds = 51 (13)
Mammals = 6 (1)
Butterflies = 21 (0)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
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